Economist Morgan Kelly giving his lecture in UCD this week. (YouTube/UCD – University College Dublin)

IRELAND

• Economist Morgan Kelly, who is well-known for forecasting the scale of the housing market crisis, said a lot of SMEs will be cleared out following ECB stress tests when their loans are called in.
• Minister Joan Burton said Fine Gael adviser Frank Flannery should make himself available to the Public Accounts Committee.
• Two men were injured in an explosion in the back garden of a house in Coolock.
• Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte is to face questions on the shelving of a UK wind export plan.
• Tom Curran, the partner of Marie-Fleming is running in the local elections in May.
• A man has been charged after cannabis plants valued at €130,000 were seized in Wicklow.
• Police in Northern Ireland have issued an appeal after two women were tied up by five masked men in a robbery in Portrush.
• Labour and Fianna Fáil selected their European election candidates for Ireland South today.
• A Great White shark is making its way across the Atlantic Ocean to Irish waters.

WORLD

Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, speaks to the journalists at a hotel where relatives or friends of passengers aboard the missing airplane stay, in Beijing, China today. (Press Association Images)

#MALAYSIA AIRLINES: Possible debris from vanished Malaysia Airlines flight has been found in the sea off Vietnam.

#UKRAINE: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wants to find a “diplomatic solution” to the crisis in Ukraine in a telephone call with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

#NORTH KOREA: It was election day in North Korea today, but voters were simply required to mark “Yes” next to the name on the ballot sheet.

INNOVATION

• What do men and women want in a new phone? The same thing it seems. [Mashable]
• Wearable tech is something Google is preparing to launch a software development kit on later this month. [The Guardian]

PARTING SHOT

Evelyn Cusack had good news today as it looks like there will be dry and settled weather for the coming weeks, according to Met Éireann.

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Here’s what happened yesterday >